


Grow Up

by abomination



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Aomine is a prince, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, herbalist au, kuroko is a castle pharmacist, kuroko is also a wizard, my aesthetics got out of hand ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11752398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abomination/pseuds/abomination
Summary: Prince Aomine visits his boyfriend's green house in order to escape the mischievous princes currently visiting his kingdom.





	Grow Up

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my flash drive for AGES. But, yeah, I might flesh this idea out more. Though I may have gotten a little carried away, haha....
> 
> Part 3 of me and miss_lestrudel's prompt game...I'm p sure the prompt is herbalist/greenhouse au

It was just another day with the plants for Tetsuya. He busied himself by checking their progress and making sure each plant was healthy and well taken care of while he was away. It was peaceful, really, which is exactly how he likes to spend his time as a castle pharmacist.

He remembers the look on the apprentices’ faces when he was given the title along with his own greenhouse and juniors. People called foul since he was the only apprentice who happened to be a wizard. Tetsuya didn't mind any of it though, as long as he got his plants and his peace, he was happy.

That was until Aomine came rushing into his greenhouse, shutting the large door behind him forcefully.

"Tetsu!"

Tetsuya couldn't bother to look away from his newly grown snowberry bush that he managed to transmogrify into a small plant. The larger man stood beside him, clearly wanting his attention.

"What is it, Aomine-kun?"

"Can I hide in here for a while? Just until the princes are all gone." The annoyance was crystal clear in Aomine’s voice.

Tetsuya examined the fresh berries growing on the plant and wrote down his observations. "That won't be for another week," he mumbled.

Aomine snapped as if he just came up with a brilliant idea. "You could disguise me as a plant and just tell them all I'm sick with the flu or plague or whatever."

"I'm pretty sure your father, the King, wouldn't like that very much." He finally looked up from the snowberry plant to the prince. He was dressed in his usual fine clothing with a light blue cloak meant for summer.

Aomine ran a hand through his dark hair. "I don't think I can take another minute with those princes. They're so annoying. And one of them keeps eating all my snacks even when I hide them."

Tetsuya chuckled. "Murisakibara really does love his snacks."

Aomine gave him a surprised look. "How do you know who he is?"

"I'm a castle pharmacist. Whenever someone stays at the castle I have to view their medical records to make sure the pharmacy is prepared. It turns out Murisakibara almost choked on some cake at his own coming of age party."

Aomine laughed. "That's embarrassing."

Tetsuya nodded in agreement. “But I’m still not turning you into a plant. I don’t even know if I can do that to another human.”

Aomine frowned at his refusal, but spoke nothing more of it. “Can I at least stay with you until I’m found and called back?”

“Sure,” he said. “Just don’t get in my way.” Tetsuya didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but it came out that way none the less. He was just so focused on the plants and to have that focus broken would be...troublesome, to say the very least.

Aomine tailed Tetsuya from one plant to the next and watched as he checked on their progress. Finally, they stopped by a beautiful plant, the one Tetsuya had deemed his “favorite,” though as an herbalist and wizard that specialized in nature magic, it was hard to ever really have a favorite. It was documented as Crose, a plant with pale blue flowers shaped like a bell. If one listened closely, they could hear their chiming. To humans this was in fact, mere chiming, but to Tetsuya (and most wizards that specialized in nature magic) it wasn’t. They spoke to Tetsuya from time to time—when they desired something or got bored with speaking to the other plants.

“Hello, Tetsu-chan!” He heard them chime in unison. Tetsuya rolled his eyes at their nickname, they had heard Aomine call him that one time and decided to call him by that nickname for the rest of his life.

Aomine reached out a hand to rub one of the leaves and one of the Crose flowers giggled softly. It was the ticklish one of the bunch. Tetsuya slapped away the prince’s hand. “Aomine-kun, don’t mess with them, I have to record their growth. “

“But they’re so pretty. The color of the petals remind me of you.” Tetsuya had blushed at his words, unsure of how Aomine could say something so embarrassing so casually. He didn’t even seem to notice the other man’s reactions as he continued to stare at the plants. “They make beautiful music.”

Tetsuya had to block the uproar that manage to spread between the flowers of the plant. They were overjoyed by the praise they received from Aomine. “Tetsu-chan never says any of that to us!” They all agreed. _Because then you all would become more arrogant than you already are_ , he thought to himself.

Aomine looked over at Tetsuya and he was glad that the heat had already left his cheeks. “What do they do, Tetsu?”

“Well, they make great tea and conversation.” Tetsuya shrugged. “I’m still doing research on them, but they show great potential for magic…I’m not sure exactly what though and they won’t tell me.” He could hear the chorus of “mhm” and “sorry Tetsu-chan”, though he doubt any of them were actually sorry.

“Are their petals used in that tea you make for me?”

Tetsuya nodded. “Yes, but after I tested it on Juunpei’s apprentices and myself of course.”

“So that’s why the water always has a blue tint to it. It all makes sense now.”

Tetsuya then took the chance to move to the next plant, wanting to finish the day’s work before it got too dark. Aomine continued to follow him, though he would sometimes be caught staring over at the Crose plant with a small smile that warmed Tetsuya’s heart.

“Aomine-kun, I think you should go back now. It’s getting late and they’re probably all out searching for you.” Tetsuya tried to ignore the sad look on Aomine’s face as he spoke. In truth, he did not want the prince gone, but duty called and the last thing he needed was to get in more trouble than he was probably already in.

“Alright, but only if you promise to spend the night with me.” Tetsuya blushed as Aomine smiled down at him, clearly proud of himself for coming up with such a deal. He had spent plenty of nights in Aomine’s room, sometimes they would stay up and Tetsuya would read to him until they both fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arm and others would turn into a late night rendezvous.

“I promise,” he finally huffed out, looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the green house. In the distance, he could hear the Crose chiming about the scandal occurring before their eyes. It was one of the reasons why Tetsuya preferred to meet him in his room. There would be no doubt that they wouldn’t shut up about it for the next week.

Aomine cupped his cheek and brought Tetsu’s face to his with a gentle kiss. Tetsuya broke off the kiss prematurely though. “Not in front of the plants, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine chuckled. “Oh yeah, sorry about that.” He met Tetsuya’s eyes one last time before turning to leave. “Don’t forget about tonight,” he called out when he reached the door.

“You know I won’t.” Tetsuya went back to monitoring the plants. If he continued without any more distractions, he could meet up with Aomine in thirty minutes.

“Uh…Tetsu?” Tetsuya turned to see that Aomine was still there, twisting the doorknob over and over again. “The door’s locked.” So much for no distractions, Tetsuya thought to himself.

He set down his logs and joined the prince at the door. “That’s impossible without magic,” he muttered. Tetsuya tried his own hand at the doorknob, but Aomine was right, someone had sealed them in from the outside.

“Probably one of the court wizard’s apprentices,” Tetsuya guessed.

“Or one of the princes.” Aomine suggested.

“Or both,” they said in unison.

The two stood there at the door in silence for a moment. Aomine snapped again, as if another “brilliant” idea had occurred to him. “I could break down the door and just have them fix it.”

Tetsuya shook his head. “That doesn’t sound very safe, the whole thing could come down on us and the plants.”

“Could you use your magic to open it?”

The wizard shook his head. “I only know the basics of hexes and curses.”

Aomine sighed. “Well, I was going to leave, so does the deal still stand?”

Tetsuya laughed, despite their situation. Leave it to Aomine-kun to still be thinking about that in a time like this. He nodded. “I was going to go see you regardless of whether we had a deal or not.”

Aomine smiled down at him. “Well, then go finish your work while I try to find a way out of here.”

Tetsuya went back to his plants, trusting Aomine to find them a way out of the situation. If Aomine really wanted something, he would get it.

About thirty minutes had passed and the sun had completely set when Tetsuya began to check up on the final plant in his logs. He had to add a few drops of a growth potion for an experiment he had been working on. Other than that it was quite unremarkable.

“Tetsu, I think I found something,” the prince called from the other side of the greenhouse. When Tetsuya arrived, Aomine was standing proudly next to a hole in the greenhouse that was about the size of a mouse. “You shapeshift right? If you transform into a mouse you could leave and get help.”

“Yes, but I would rather _not_ end up stark naked in the middle of the castle for everyone to see.”

The prince thought for moment. “Oh, yeah, you’re right. Sorry,” he laughed nervously.

Tetsuya went back to putting his logs away where they belonged, they weren’t due for another two days, so he was glad he was ahead of work. He was just finishing cleaning up when Aomine walked over to him. “Are you sure I just can’t break the door?”

The wizard glared at him. “Of course not.”

Aomine frowned for a brief moment. He looked up at the small opening in the middle of the green house that was a perfect window to the night sky. “Hey, Tetsu?”

“Yes?”

The prince looked back at the wizard and for a brief moment Tetsuya’s stomach flipped. Aomine wore such a soft expression he was seeing less and less of everyday with his training to be the next king. “Do you want to watch the stars with me instead?”

Tetsuya blinked up at the man. He was dumbfounded. “Uh…the stars?”

Aomine nodded. “I know it’s not as romantic as a night in my room…but it’s rare when the sky looks so nice _and_ it doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to leave this place anytime soon….so.”

Tetsuya shook his head and tried to ignore the Crose plants’ exaggerated reaction to the romantic invite as the blood rushed to his face. “No, no. It’s perfect.”

Thus the two settled themselves on Aomine’s spread out cloak. The view wasn’t too great, but good enough for Tetsuya to make out a constellation. “That one right there is known as ‘The Dragon’s Beard.’”

The prince adjusted himself so that he was facing Tetsuya and leaning on his elbow for support. “Why ‘Dragon’s Beard’? I mean, dragons don’t have beards.”

“I don’t think that’s the point, Aomine-kun.”

“Maybe, but it’s still stupid.”

Tetsuya ignored his last statement and went back to pointing out the stars that looked interesting to him. He could feel Aomine staring at him and only him until, well, he couldn’t. He turned his head to see that his boyfriend had fallen asleep beside him. He wore the same innocent expression he had earlier. It was one of the reasons Tetsuya liked to visit him at night. It was that face he knew—the face he grew up with, not the one he put on for show in front of his father and the others from the court.

The wizard traced the outline of Aomine’s profile. He smiled to himself before sighing deeply and curling up beside the prince. The Crose plants sang him to sleep with slowly, simple chimes instead of their usual annoying prodding.

His last thoughts were of how he wished he could be by Aomine’s side forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
